Staff Reporter

MASERU — The National University of Lesotho (NUL) has paid its late vice-chancellor Professor Adelani Ogunrinade three times his annual salary in terminal benefits.

Ogunrinade, 56, died two weeks ago at Medi-Clinic in Bloemfontein, South Africa.

He was diabetic.

The talks over his terminal benefits had almost collapsed last week after a friend who had accompanied Ogunrinade’s family to the negotiations queried the figure NUL was prepared to pay out.

A top source privy to the talks said the friend, who works at the University of Western Cape, had argued that the late VC’s family was entitled five times his annual salary in terminal benefits.

“He seems to have convinced the family that this was the case and he kept pushing that figure,” the source said.

The source said the university, however, insisted that its contracts with employees stated that in case of death the deceased’s family would get three times their annual salary in terminal benefits.

“He then argued that this was a vice-chancellor that we were talking about and not any other employee,” the source said.

He said after a protracted argument the university decided to stick to the late vice-chancellor’s contract which said the terminal benefits are supposed to be three times the annual salary.

“The university is going to pay this amount,” the source said.

Calculated on the basis of his annual salary of M492 000 this means Ogunrinade’s family will get M1 476 000 before taxation.

Ogunrinade’s body will be ferried to Johannesburg from Bloemfontein this week.

From there the body will be flown to Nigeria, his home country, where he will be buried.

Ogunrinade died on April 3 in Bloemfontein. He had collapsed a week earlier at his official home in Roma where he was staying while waiting for the court to hear his case in which he was challenging his dismissal in February.

He was fired as the NUL vice-chancellor for misappropriation of funds, inflating per diem claims and taking leave without authorisation.